Optimism and Frequency Biases
Overestimating the frequency of something because we’ve seen it recently or memorably.
Humans have a number of cognitive biases that can lead us to distort reality and make bad decisions. One of these is called the Optimism Bias. It is the mistaken belief that we are less likely to experience a negative event than someone else. Games can emphasize this bias by overegagerating other people's loses. Because we see other people losing when we aren't, we may get the mistaken impression that we are more skilled or lucky than other people. If we feel like we are exceptionally skilled at a game, we will keep playing.
Another cognitive bias is towards more recent or memorable information. This is the mistaken belief that events that happened in your recent memory are more likely to occur again in the near future. We overestimate the frequency of something happening because it is memorable to us. When a game shows that other players just got a rare item, it gives us the impression that this could happen to us soon, even though the odds haven't changed.
The Clustering Illusion is another tendency for people to erroneously overestimate the significance of short winning streaks and see phantom patterns in random data where there aren't any. A game that proclaims to give random rewards could in fact secretly have a tendency to give rewards in streaks to emphasize this cognitive bias.
Another cognitive bias is towards more recent or memorable information. This is the mistaken belief that events that happened in your recent memory are more likely to occur again in the near future. We overestimate the frequency of something happening because it is memorable to us. When a game shows that other players just got a rare item, it gives us the impression that this could happen to us soon, even though the odds haven't changed.
The Clustering Illusion is another tendency for people to erroneously overestimate the significance of short winning streaks and see phantom patterns in random data where there aren't any. A game that proclaims to give random rewards could in fact secretly have a tendency to give rewards in streaks to emphasize this cognitive bias.
Citations and Sources • Seven Psychological Sins of SimCity Social
• Wikipedia :: Optimism Bias
• Wikipedia :: List of cognitive biases
• Wikipedia :: Clustering Illusion
• Wikipedia :: Optimism Bias
• Wikipedia :: List of cognitive biases
• Wikipedia :: Clustering Illusion
Examples
The World of Magic"Enchanting an item gives a server wide "CONGRATULATIONS" whereas failing one only gives a small radius "Failure""
Zombie Tsunami"If your friends get a new High score, you can see that on the Leaderboard"
Idle Angels"The winners of PVP events are always advertised. Those who successfully achieve progress like summoning an angel or maximizing their angel potential will show a banner for the server."
Squad Busters"It is public in profile"
Super Snail"well... it emphasizes both... someone can choose to post their pull (drawing 10 rewards with lotto tickets) in chat where ppl can see what they got, if they get a good enough pull it will give the first 30 ppl who click the button in chat that says [Gacha Gawd Pack] and similarly if you get a really bad pull it will make a button for [Never Lucky Pack]. these chat packs also include good/bad offering rewards and also whenever someone makes a large enough purchase which is [Whale Gift Pack]"
Revenge of the Queen"You get server alerts when someone gets a good gacha pull. I am unsure if this can be turned off."
Isekai:Slow Life"A good example is the trading post "minigame" (lack of a better word, there is no gameplay) where you fight enemy players' characters with your own, and gain rewards depending on how much damage you dealt. There is no "lose" option, just gaining fewer rewards."
Beatstar"You receive notifications when your score is beaten by someone on your friends list."
Beatstar - Touch Your Music"You receive notifications when your score is beaten by someone on your friends list."
Bud Farm: Grass Roots"there's a counter of wins in competitions, but not the counter of loses"